Chapter 28
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Chapter 28
The Palaiologos Dynasty
The Imperial dynasty of the Roman Empire is a fascinating topic to cover. Coming to power in that ever so Roman manner of a successful military officer overthrowing an Emperor, they must have seemed like any other in a long line of families. If anything, looking back, historians could easily say they were one of the least successful. Ruling over a fading Empire-in-name-only that they mismanaged terribly. Even more prone to inter-family warfare than most Roman dynasties, they squandered the remaining wealth and manpower of the Empire. Anatolia was finally lost for good. Greece was taken, along with Thrace. Serbs, Bulgars and Turks ate away at the edges of an Empire that shambled from one crisis to another. Even the bright spots were short lived and did little lasting good.The Palaiologos Dynasty
When Constantine rose to the throne and Mehmed laid siege to Constantinople it would have, in another world, likely been the end of the Roman legacy. Tarnished and faded as it was. The Palaiologos would have been a failure of a dynasty. One that produced a handful of excellent rulers and many terrible pretenders. [1]
Of course, as we all know, that wasn't what happened. The Lord intervened, to hear the Romans tell the story. Certainly something, and maybe it was God, took Constantinople from the clutches of the Turks. Mehmed would go to the grave believing he had been punished and, to this day, one can only wonder what he had done to deserve such a fate. His foe, Constantine, would go to his own death swearing that the Lord had heard his prayers and those of his people. Regardless of the truth of the matter, Constantine would eventually be Sainted by the Roman Orthodox Church, the ruler who had saved his people.
The Palaiologos Dynasty, for its part, would stage the kind of resurgence that defies belief. Constantine would take a second wind that saw him lay down the foundations for the modern Roman state in Arcadia. Alexios would forge laws that remain in effect to this day. Even Heraklonas, ill-liked as he is, would secure what his father and granduncle had done. And then you have the line of Demetrios, fine warriors and able statesmen in their own right.
It remains almost more a miracle than the movement of Constantinople itself.
- The Roman Imperial Family, Brussels, 1884
When Europeans arrived in Constantinople, they were greeted with the land of the 'Noble and Holiest House of Palaiologos, Chosen of the Lord'.[2] A pretentious title, to be sure, that would have scandalized Constantine with his religious reawakening. Even Alexios would have considered it excessive and Demetrios scoffed at it. Never let it be said that Heraklonas was anything but an able showman, however. He had created this new title for his family entirely to impress upon the visitors who, exactly, they were visiting. A creature of the court, the Emperor was always looking to impress. To show off the wealth and prestige of his throne.
This was simply one further aspect of that. One that, it must be said, worked. If only because visitors already awed by the survival and thriving wealth of Constantinople could hardly deny God's hand in the City. When Constantine's Sainthood was accepted by the Orthodox Church at large, it would further reinforce this, even if later Emperors tended to drop the pretension from the title. For the reign of Heraklonas, though, it further sets the branch in Constantinople apart from other branches of the Imperial line.
More commonly known by the far simpler 'House of Palaiologos-Constantinople', the family of Heraklonas was an expansive one. What had been comprised of a bare three members upon arrival in Elysium- Constantine, Alexios and his brother who has largely faded from history -had blossomed into a large and healthy family line. While Demetrios and Heraklonas are by far the most famous of Alexios' children, they are not his only children. His only male children, perhaps, yet the brothers had no fewer than four sisters. Coupled with children of Alexios' brother, and the generation that gave rise to the current Emperor had more than tripled the amount of Imperial family members in the Empire. This would continue with Heraklonas, himself.
For upon marrying a scion of the still prestigious Doukas family, Heraklonas would produce a wide family of his own. His wife would bear him six children, four boys and two girls. While undoubtedly pleasing to the Emperor and his wife, it could have created a crisis later in the Empire's own life. From the sons more than the daughters, who would live in Blachernae for much of their lives, pampered and given anything they desired. There were no royal families to marry them off to, even, so those daughters would choose their own husbands from the Roman nobility, one day. The sons, however, were another story entirely.
One must recall, here, that Demetrios was functionally, if willingly, exiled due to the 'Byzantine' tradition of male family members attempting to kill one another off for the throne. With four male children, Heraklonas had secured his line, but could also have caused a terrific civil war if his sons got it in their heads to rule alone. Heraklonas, for his lack of military talent, was still an able administrator and not at all blind to this fact. It was, again, why his own brother would not return to Constantinople.
As such, Heraklonas looked to the fact that the Empire had been, quite literally, severed from its past. He looked to the past of his own family and the flaws therein. With no need to hold to outdated styles of rule, and to be completely frank, with more than a little desire to keep his brother's line from the throne...Heraklonas firmly broke from the old Roman traditions. He declared his eldest son his heir and took advantage of the relative weakness of other claimants and the still mystical legacy of Constantine, to further declare the eldest son of his line to always be the designated heir to the throne. [3]
So it was that the House of Palaiologos-Constantinople began to more closely resemble the average European royal family. No more would there be Co-Emperors or contests for the throne. While the latter could- and would -happen, the intention was fully to remove that from the equation. To transform the Empire into a modern state, with a modern ruler, and no more ambitious generals coming from the outside to wrest the throne away.
Heraklonas was likely fully aware of how much this angered his younger sons. It is no surprise that two of them would be sent to 'learn from their uncle' and never allowed back. It was even less surprise that the third would leave for the northern frontier of the Empire, setting up his own holdings in that isolated locale. Here he would linger, forming his own family line, if one of less import. A tough and hardy group, living out on the frontier where land was plentiful, but support was limited. Here, a man would form his own destiny and not tie it to anyone else. Until and unless he wanted to himself. These northern lands would still formally remain part of the Empire, but in those days, they were considered the fringe of the fringe and hardly controlled by Constantinople.
The eldest, Leo, would remain by his father's side and learn rulership from Heraklonas. He would lack his father's charm, perhaps, but Leo would have his own strengths and weaknesses in the years to come.
This was the state of the Constantinople line of the Palaiologos family, upon the first European visitors arriving. A thriving family, albeit one still prone to exiling younger sons until and unless they were needed. Heraklonas formalizing what had been the tradition of the Palaiologos Emperors did little to change that fact. Nor the fact that the family in Constantinople was, in many ways, simply a continuation of what it had been under Constantine. By no means a bad thing. It brought a level of stability that the Palaiologos Empire desperately needed and that the people of the Empire, still enamored with the family of the great Saint Constantine, were quite happy with. The shine had not yet worn off the holiest of holy rulers.
So, how did the average Roman citizen view their ruling family? One could say it was the same as it had ever been. A certain level of detached respect. The occasional murmurs of annoyance about never seeing the Emperor and how he flaunted his wealth, though far less than it might have been with the general wealth of the Empire itself. Perhaps the largest difference was, and would remain, the legacy of Constantine. It was still impossible to deny the holiness of Saint Constantine and his successors.
This was, in of itself, quite the turnaround for a family that had been viewed with disdain and frustration for most of its time on the throne. A family that had annoyed and frustrated its people by constantly trying to reunite the churches, to the point that several were outright called heretical. Was now the holiest of Imperial families and a beacon of the Orthodox Church. Constantine, in spite of his late repudiation of the Union, would likely have seen the irony in this.
If one wanted to truly see a new family, though, one had to look to the more southerly branch of the Palaiologos line. For where the Constantinople line continued to thrive in the old courts and intrigue of the Eastern Roman throne, the line of Demetrios thrived in its own right and in its own manner. One quite unlike that of his brother, and yet one just as important to the history of the Roman Empire, as we'll see in later years.
So it is that we leave the glittering halls of Constantinople and return to the harsh stone and colorful tapestries of Tzintzuntzan.
Demetrios Palaiologos, always the more famous and beloved of the two sons of Alexios, founded his own branch of the family in the city of Tzintzuntzan. Marrying into Purépecha royalty, Demetrios would be the first of his family line to marry into a native family. This fact was less important, at the time, than the fact that he was exiled to the court of the Cazonci by his brother, informal exile it may have been. In later years, however, it would become a badge of honor for the thoroughly mixed-blood House of Palaiologos-Tzintzuntzan. That their founder saw no problem with mixing his blood with that of a native woman, no matter her royal pedigree. Considering that this was a family that would eventually have blood relations of most native peoples of Mesoarcadia- and more than a few European colonizers -this is perhaps expected.
At the time, it was less apparent, other than in the dusky skin tone of Demetrios' three children. The Prince and his wife would prove to be less prolific than Heraklonas, though they would also prove to be arguably better parents. Demetrios would sire two sons and a single daughter, and neither of his boys would be exiled. In fact, he would raise Heraklonas' exiled sons as if they were his own, and those boys would eventually marry a Spanish noblewoman- herself in functional exile from Spain -and a Purépecha cousin of Shanarani.
As for Demetrios' blood-related children, the eldest was name Theodoros. A fine Greek name for a boy who couldn't look less Greek if he tried. Shanarani's genes were strong in her children, and all three of Demetrios' children would show that in their skin. Theodoros, for his part, would attempt to emulate his father in military matters. Both he and his brother would be off learning the art of soldiering when Demetrios set off to Vera Cruz, though as it would turn out, little Theodoros would have no talent for it. Small and frail, he could handle a short sword well enough, but armor and shields and spears were too much for him. Even the sword would prove to tire him out far faster than it would any other boy- or man -his age.
Where he failed at military matters, however, Theodoros would inherit his father's charm and diplomatic acumen. If anything, he was even more charming than his father and his mind sharper. He took after his mother in this. Even before he had left his teenage years, Theodoros was already venturing out into the wilds of Mesoarcadia to explore and meet new people. With a hefty escort provided by Irepani and the old 500, of course. No one wanted to let the eldest child of Demetrios die because he could only barely defend himself.
Still, the scholarly and diplomatic Theodoros would make treaties and meet people as far north as the lands of the Opata and as far south as those of the Maya in Sotuta. In the latter case, Theodoros- with his very European name -would find some suspicion at first. While stymied in their efforts to the North, the Spanish were already landing exploratory expeditions in Maya lands. And they were doing much the same as they had done in Aztec lands, with all that implied. [4]
So, suspicion was understandable. Until, that is, he told the tales of why his skin was darker than the Spanish. Of how his father and his men were working to secure the native lands from European conquest. This, and catching the eye of a noble daughter, were sufficient that he left with his head and a request to eventually meet properly in a happier manner. Along with a request to return, later, when more Mayan leaders could be gathered.
Theodoros, while disappointing his father with his lack of military talent...truly impressed Demetrios the day he returned.
As for the second son, Michael, he would be the polar opposite of both his brother and father. Lacking at all in their tact or diplomatic skills, he was a far simpler boy and man. One who lived for the thrill of combat. He would spend his early years thriving under military training and would, upon reaching manhood, continue on as part of the 500. It would be here that he spent the majority of his life, showing absolutely no desire to go exploring or meeting new people. He would be an excellent soldier and make his father proud of that. Yet he would never go beyond that. He was no leader of men, no diplomat.
Michael was simply an excellent warrior and content with his lot in life. He would spend more time with the soldiers and with Irepani, himself more akin to Michael in temperament, than he ever would with his brother or 'brothers'. This was fine though, because he enjoyed his life and that was what mattered to his parents.
Demetrios final child, Agapi, was a timid child who would eventually develop into a beautiful woman. Inheriting both her father's Greek features and her mother's dusky beauty, Agapi would stay at home with her mother, learning the craft of a housewife and mother of children. Her father would teach her how to wield a dagger to defend herself and she would, eventually, show a certain talent for a short bow as well. But a fighter she was very definitely not. Where Agapi shone the brightest was in her gentle and caring demeanor. Not only would she be an excellent mother to her own brood of children, one day, she would practically raise the children of her brothers- Michael in particular -in her own right.
In this, she was a microcosm of that first generation of Palaiologos-Tzintzuntzan. A tight-knit family that looked after its own. Demetrios would create a House built on solid foundations that would continue to endure in the diplomatic and military corps of the Purépecha Empire for many years to come.
Past these branches, there were of course, the European branches of the family. Demetrios and Thomas, brothers of Saint Constantine, had been left behind in the Morea following the 'fall' of Constantinople. [5] Here they would rule for a few years to come, before a vengeful Mehmed would fall upon Morea and evict them from Mystras. Demetrios would eventually find himself in Istanbul, where he would later die, with his own child following him not long after. Thomas would flee to Italy and attempt to form a new crusade to retake 'his' throne. While he found receptive ears in both the Pope and several Italian rulers horrified by the Carthage Myth, no crusade would be forthcoming. The princes and kings of Europe were consumed with their own problems and even after Mehmed's fall against Vlad, it didn't change that issue.
Eventually dying penniless and destitute, Thomas would leave behind three children. One, Zoe, would marry the Duke of Moscow, Ivan III. Through her children, the Palaiologos line would still be ruling in Moscow when news of Constantinople arrived. The so-called 'Third Rome' would be...displeased by this, to some extent. Not least those who might have hoped to use the legitimacy of the duke being descended from the Imperial line to make claims to leadership of Orthodoxy or the like. It is little surprise that there was something of a civil war in the courts of Moscow on if the duke's line should push more for their Palaiologos heritage as a direct shot at the Emperor in Constantinople or if they should instead look to their Rurikid legacy.
Andreas and Manuel, the other children of Thomas, would themselves die broken and poor in Italy. Their own children would scatter to the winds and leave recorded history at this point. If any lived long enough to see Constantinople's return to the world stage is unknown. They certainly made no claims to the throne if they had, and those claiming descent from either of the brothers in later years are generally regarded as opportunists trying to cash in on the Palaiologos legacy.
The branch of the family in Montferrat, on the other hand, maintained perhaps the best claim to legitimacy outside of Moscow. And perhaps it had a better claim even there, as the duke of Moscow had- until the news from Arcadia -been emphasizing his Russian and Rurikid heritage more than his Greek lineage. The House of Palaiologos-Montferrat, or the House of Palaeologus-Montferrat, was directly descended from the Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and had always maintained their name and legacy. Even converted to Catholicism and taking Italian names on occasion, this was a family that maintained their claims to descent from the Imperial line. Even as they washed their hands of the Eastern Mediterranean and contented themselves with their small rulership in northern Italy.
It is somewhat telling in that, even with the news of Constantinople, this didn't change. The then-ruler, Boniface IV Palaeologus-Montferrat, had not even been born with a Greek name. A young boy at the tender age of 13 at the time of news arriving of Constantinople, he was not at all bothered by it. In the manner of many a teenage boy throughout history, he was more interested in his own life and whims. It is recorded that his reaction was more along the lines of 'that's interesting, but does it really matter?'.
Boniface would be proven wrong, of course, when even devout Catholics in Montferrat began to look at him differently. His family was blessed by the Lord, it seemed, and poor Boniface would soon find himself expected to live up to that. It might have saved his life, one supposes, considering his tendency to go on wild horse rides. [6]
Those were quickly banned, and the young boy was thrust into a sudden important position as the 'last Palaiologos' in Europe that still maintained direct rulership of any sort of state. Under the tough hand of his uncle, John George, Boniface would quickly become an important plaything in inter-Italian feuds. Sleepy Montferrat and young Boniface were the last vestiges of a now-blessed family in Europe and would never be able to escape that legacy. Both were suddenly far more important than they ever would have been in another world. Some say the boy cursed his fate. Other that he embraced it once he understood it properly.
Regardless of the truth of the matter, when a son of Theodoros would be the first Arcadian member of the family to visit Europe, his first stop- after arriving of course -would be Montferrat, where a much older and wiser Boniface would greet him warmly like an uncle seeing his nephew for the first time, no matter the difference between his pale skin and the dark tones of the grandson of Demetrios Palaiologos.
1. The Palaiologos family, in Europe, had proven themselves to be a...contentious bunch. On the one hand, they had spawned some truly great men. On the other hand, their interfamily squabbles and conflict had drained the treasury of an already fading empire. Threw away manpower that was desperately needed to maintain ever shrinking borders. Antagonized their own people and their enemies in equal measure. It is oft forgotten in the modern day, but the Palaiologos Emperors were deeply unpopular- sometimes even hated -by their own people for various reasons. Their resurgence is nothing short of a miracle almost as large as the salvation of Constantionople itself.
2. When Heraklonas came upon the idea for this is unknown. What is certain is that he only began styling his family line by this pretentious title when he felt the need to impress upon European visitors just how important his family was. It is entirely unsurprising that later rulers in Constantinople would drop the full title and revert to more reasonable ones after Heraklonas' death. Consummate showman he was, only Heraklonas could possibly have made such a title work, and his successors had no interest in continuing that.
3. Even at the very end of its time in Europe, the Roman Empire did not see succession in the same way as other European states. It was common for the eldest son to inherit, to be certain, but this was by no means a given. It was just as likely another son, a brother, or even a nephew or uncle could be considered Co-Emperor and inherit the throne. Alexios was, after all, Constantine's nephew- though this had as much to do with Constantine's lack of children as anything else. Heraklonas would be the first to break from this tradition, as much to secure his own line over that of his brother as anything. While there was some grumbling and growing pains, what he established would continue long after his death, with the eldest surviving son set to inherit the throne. It did much to prevent the devastating civil wars that Eastern Rome was so known for.
4. The Spanish attempts to rule in Mayan lands are every bit as brutal as one could expect. It should come as little surprise that the natives would be suspicious of someone with such an unfamiliar name as Theodoros, no matter how much he may have outwardly resembled any other native, other than the features he inherited from his father.
5. It might be considered a blessing that neither Demetrios nor Thomas would live to see news of Constantinople. Even the rumors of the truth most likely crushed them when they realized they had been left behind. The truth would have certainly ruined the men had they been alive to hear it.
6. When he was seventeen, Boniface very nearly fell from his horse. Had he died then, he would have died unmarried and with no children. That would have been a sad end to the last of the European Palaiologos, as John George was frail and childless in his own right.
AN: There we go. A New Years present.
Figured that going over the royal family was as good a way as any to continue this look at the Empire itself while also giving some peaks over at Europe. What, did you think we forgot about the other ruling Palaiologos branch? Those poor Italians are going to be torn about by people looking to take advantage of their newfound 'holiness'. Fun times for a sleepy family that never asked for this
Also some hints as to how things will go with the Arcadian branches of the family, as well. We'll be seeing more of Leo as time goes by, along with the odd cameo from his siblings. Heraklonas is a good administrator, but he's about as poor a father as a brother.
Next update will...ideally be soon, but we'll see.
...also featuring (not great, but eh) minimal family trees. That we didn't totally forget to put in the first time >.> <.<
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